Friday, February 8, 2013

Hearts to Hands

The last few weeks I have been thinking a lot about hearts and hands. When I was a weaver I often felt a deep heart felt connection to the person for whom I was doing the weaving and would think about them often while I sent the shuttle flying back and forth. The same thing can be done with Zentangles, if you have someone in your thoughts and heart you can devote a tangle or a book of tangles just to them. Or if you need a little TLC, dedicate it to yourself. Nothing wrong with a little reinforcement of self love.

Recently, a student, Kathy came up to me after a class with her sketchbooks. She had been tangling for a while and had completed very intricate work. She talked about tangling the hands of her loved ones and how she would put little meaningful tangles into each one. For instance she drew tiny stick elk figures in her husbands' hand as he liked to hunt. I asked to take a picture to share and here is her work of the heart. Perhaps it will inspire you to take on such a heart felt project of your family or friend's hands...or feet, don't they count too?

On the subject of hands, right after my Dad passed away a year ago I came across this excerpt from Peace is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh called Look into Your Hand:

"I have a friend who is an artist. Before he left Vietnam forty years ago, his mother held his hand and told him, "Whenever you miss me, look into your hand, and you will see me immediately" How penetrating these simple, sincere words!

Over the years, my friend looked into his hand many times. The presence of his mother is not just genetic. Her spirit, her hopes, and her life are also in him. When he looks into his hand, he can see thousands of generations after him. He can see that he exists not only in the evolutionary tree branching along the axis of time, but also in the network of interdependent relations. He told me that he never feels lonely."

Last week I lead the start of a monthly Zentangle class at New Moon in Spokane. We were a fun and cozy group. Since Valentines Day is coming I thought I would try to teach them the tangle Heart Rope by Bunny Wright from Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. It was a bit complicated at first, but many variations were discovered and it all worked out in the end. I am working on a video of this tangle and as soon as I can get my Luddite brain around the technology involved, I'll do it. Until then here are the step outs for Heartrope. I've come up with a fun variation that I will also share soon.

I have been reading out of the Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo and some days I think he wrote it just for me, it's so spot on with what I am experiencing that moment. While I was thinking about hearts and hands I came across this excerpt in the same book:

"If you place two heart cells from different people in a petrie dish, they will find and maintain a third and common beat. - Molly Vass

...Yet we often tire ourselves by fighting how our hearts want to join, seldom realizing that both strength and peace come from our hearts beating in unison with all that is alive."

My husband and I will be celebrating Valentines at a special place this year. I hope the door to your heart flies open to love from unexpected places!